Inter-regional interactions in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Moravia
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| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Culture-historical archaeology is based on a distinction between individual cultures with clearly determined geographic boundaries. These were mostly set out on the basis of material evidence, which was present at particular sites of the one or another geographic area. All artefacts which were found outside the boundaries of their original geographic culture have usually been interpreted as the so-called “imports” or “foreign influences”. Common everyday interactions between nearby regions were not really paid attention to. The aim of this paper is to try to identify long-term trends in the way of interactions for the territory of Moravia during the Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. On the basis of new knowledge it becomes apparent that the boundaries between cultures are arbitrary and, at the same time, that the targeted separation of cultures can also lead to an intentional separation of chronology between regions which, however, developed in a close relation. The research which also reaches high intensity due to rescue excavations shows that we cannot speak of any clear boundaries between cultures but, on the contrary, that ceramic styles overlap and are often not connected with geographic area but rather with functional use of several ceramic forms for ceremonial purposes. At the same time, ceramic styles appear (“Atting ornament”, “Silesian pottery”) which were produced and used outside their so-called parental geographic regions, particularly in the milieu of large centres. The system of ceramic production, as it is studied, supplied the localities of central function mainly with products from their close hinterland (micro-region Blučina in the Early Bronze Age, micro-region Podolí in the Final Bronze Age). The extent of distribution areas in Moravia probably did not change until the beginning of the La Tene Period. Nevertheless, at the same time elements can appear which indicate a sort of otherness, for example in the form of burial rites and small imports (Mezocsát Group) which, however, mostly used elements of local ceramic production (Pohořelice). This remote interaction is also reflected in sharing of metal artefacts in highly supra-regional contexts. True long-distance imports play only a marginal role with regard to quantity and quality. Significant is the influx of raw materials, above all copper, and in several time periods amber as well. |